Jay's POV
The night air felt like a physical weight, thick with the scent of jasmine and the lingering echoes of the storm I'd just unleashed inside. My heels were discarded somewhere near the patio doors, the cold grass a grounding contrast to the fire still burning under my skin.
"Jay," Keifer's voice was low, cautious, as if he were approaching a wounded animal. I felt his presence behind me, a familiar warmth that usually made me feel safe, but right now, I felt crowded.
"Please," I whispered, not turning around. My voice sounded hollow, even to my own ears. "Just... leave me alone for a little while, Keifer. I need to breathe without someone watching me."
I heard him hesitate. I knew he wanted to pull me into his arms, to tell me he'd fix it, but he saw the tension in my shoulders. He simply nodded, the movement silent in the dark. "I'll be right inside. If you need anything—anything at all—I'm here."
He retreated, his footsteps fading until I was truly alone.
I made my way to the edge of the poolside, sitting on the cold marble and letting my feet dangle into the water. The water of the pool was a dark, shimmering mirror, reflecting a sky that felt too vast for the person I had become.
The ripples distorted the reflection of the moon, much like how the truth had distorted every memory I had of my childhood.
"I figured I'd find you here."
I didn't flinch when Aries sat down a few feet away. For a long time, we just watched the water.
"I'm sorry, Jay-jay," he said, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry I let her manipulate us for so long.
I looked at him, seeing the guilt etched into his features. "I'm sorry too, Aries. For stabbing you in the back... for all the secrets. I thought I was protecting you by keeping the past buried, but I just left you in the dark with a monster."
I could not hold my tears now I hugged him tightly as if feared of going back to that darkness ,"I'm sorry , kuya. Really, sorry."
Aries quickly moved holding me in a tight hug "Shh..shh jay, Kuya ari is here.That wasn't your fault from beginning.You were trapped in your past between those monsters ."We were both kids, Jay. We're not kids anymore."
Is there room for a failure of a brother in this circle?" Percy's voice came from the shadows. He looked wrecked, his usual playful spark extinguished by a cold, simmering rage. He sat on my other side, his long arms looping around both of us, pulling our heads to his chest.
"You aren't a failure, Percy," I murmured, leaning into his warmth.
"I am," he whispered fiercely.
Angelo appeared last, the most silent and lethal of the three. He didn't sit; he knelt in front of us, taking my hands in his. His grip was like iron, a silent promise of absolute protection.
"She thinks she's seen a storm?" Angelo's voice was a low, vibrating growl that sent a shiver through me. "She hasn't seen what happens when you touch a brother's heart. I will dismantle her piece by piece. You are our princess, Jay. And a princess doesn't fight her own battles when her generals are standing right here."
"She's gone, Jay," Percy promised, his voice a low growl. "I swear on my life, she will never set foot in this house again. We won't let anyone hurt you ever again."
"We are your shield, your sword, and your shadow," Aries added, his voice ringing with a newfound authority.
"Group hug?" Percy's voice broke the somber mood.
I give a weak smile and we hugged each other.The four of us sat there—the broken remnants of a family trying to piece itself back together. Angelo rested his head against mine, his hand squeezing my shoulder.
The exhaustion I'd been fighting since the flight finally won. Wrapped in the warmth of my brothers, the crushing weight of the day began to blur. I leaned into them, my eyes fluttering shut as the sound of their steady breathing became my lullaby. I fell asleep right there, a small island of peace in the middle of a war zone.
------------------------------
Gemma's POV
I stood in the kitchen, my hands trembling so hard the teacup rattled against the saucer. Shock didn't even begin to cover it. I felt physically ill. Jeana... my own sister... she had sold her?
The guilt was a physical sickness. How did I not know? I was supposed to be the mother figure. I was the one who saw Jay's night terrors and thought they were just 'trauma' from being lost. I didn't realize the trauma was standing right in the hallway, tucking her in at night with poisoned milk.
I thought of all those years I spent trying to be a mother figure to Jay, wondering why the girl seemed so haunted, so prone to nightmares. I was there, in the same house, and I hadn't seen it. I hadn't protected her.
The guilt was a jagged blade in my chest.
I needed to see her. I walked toward the pool area, my heart heavy. When I stepped onto the patio, I stopped dead.
The moon illuminated a scene that brought a sob to my throat.There they were. Jay was tucked into the middle, her head on Aries' shoulder, her hand clutching Percy's shirt, while Angelo stood guard even in his sleep, draped over the rest of them. They looked like a litter of lion cubs, fierce even in repose.
"They're looking peaceful,aren't they?"
I jumped, turning to see Keifer standing in the shadows of the doorway. He looked tired, his eyes never leaving Jay.
"They are," I whispered, wiping a stray tear. "They're protecting her."
Keifer stepped forward, looking down at the group. "She's the strongest person I know, but even she can't carry the world alone."
I looked at Keifer. For years, every time I saw his face, I saw the ghost of the man who killed my husband. I saw the bloodline of a monster. But looking at him now, seeing the raw devotion in his eyes for my niece, the hatred I'd carried felt... heavy. Unnecessary. He watched Jay, as a man who would walk through fire just to keep her warm.
"Keifer," I said softly. He turned to me, surprised by the lack of venom in my voice.
"You're nothing like him, Keifer," I said softly. He froze, looking at me in shock. "You are perfect for her. You're different from your father... you're a good man. You are the only person who stayed by her side when the world was dark. You're perfect for her."
Keifer's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. For a second, the 'bad boy' facade crumbled, and he just looked like a boy who had finally been seen.
I stepped closer, placing a hand on his arm. "If you ever need a mother—a real one—I'm here. You've earned a place in this family, Keifer."
Keifer's eyes softened, the hard lines of his face relaxing for the first time. "Thank you, Tita. That means more than you know."
------------------------------
Others POV
Cin: I knew she was a survivor, but this? I want to find Jeana myself. My 'bestie' deserves a crown, not a scar.
Josh: I've seen some dark things in the world, but selling your own blood? The Fernandes name is tainted, and I'll make sure the world knows it.
David: I always wondered why Jay looked at the world like it owed her an apology. Now I know. I'm staying close; she's going to need us when the '48 hours' are up.
Freya: My heart breaks for her. To find out your 'safe place' was the one who threw you to the wolves... I'm going to make sure the we all are ready for whatever comes next.
Rakki: I'm speechless. I just want to hug her and never let go. How do you recover from a betrayal that deep?
Mica: I can't stop shaking. How do you recover from finding out your mother is your greatest enemy? I'm baking her favorite cookies for when she wakes up. It's small, but it's all I have to give.
Ion: I've seen wars in the underworld, but this is personal. This is blood. Jay is the heart of this group, and Jeana just tried to stop that heart from beating. The hunt begins now.
Yuri : Jeana thinks she's only running from Jay, she's a fool.She's running from all of us. I don't care about the laws or the '48 hours.' If I catch a glimpse of that woman's shadow, I'll make sure she regrets every breath she took while Jay was suffering. No one touches our girl and lives to tell the story."
-----------------------------
Jasfher's POV
The silence of the Fernandes mansion was a thin veil over a pit of vipers. I stood by the window, my hands locked behind my back, staring at the poolside where my daughter lay sleeping in the arms of those boys.
The revelation of what Jeana did—the transaction, the milk, the calculated betrayal—didn't just break my heart; it incinerated it.
For past years, I had scoured the earth, burning through fortunes and blood assuring myself that my girl was safe with her mother. To find out the thief was the woman who gave her life? It was a level of depravity I hadn't encountered even in the darkest corners of the underworld.
"She gave that woman forty-eight hours," I whispered, my voice a low, vibrating growl of tectonic rage. "But Jeana Fernandes isn't just running from a girl's trauma anymore. She is running from a Mariano. I will not stop until every cent she touched turns to lead and every shadow she hides in screams my name. No one puts a price on my daughter and survives to spend it."
------------------------------
Reycee's POV
I sat on the edge of the sofa, my breath coming in jagged hitches. The sob I'd been holding back since the flight finally broke through as I watched Jay from afar. She looked so small, tucked between her brothers, finally silent after eleven years of screaming inside.
I am not the woman who birthed her, but the moment I held her hand in New York, she became mine. To hear that she was traded like a piece of cargo by her own blood... it made me want to tear the world apart with my bare hands.
"She called me mother today," I choked out, a single, cold tear tracking down my cheek. "And as her mother, I am making a vow. I will use every connection, every whisper, and every ounce of influence I possess to ensure Jeana Fernandes never knows a moment of peace again. I will make the world so small for her that she will beg for the darkness she once sold my daughter into. The hunt has already ended, Jasfher. Now, we just wait for the kill."
------------------------------------
Mia's POV
The headphones were supposed to block it out. Jay told us to go upstairs, to play our games, to disappear into the noise. But the air in the house was too heavy, too vibrating with a frequency that made my skin crawl.
I'd crept to the top of the stairs, Keiren and Keigan huddled back in room playing video game. I didn't just hear the yelling. I heard the truth.
Mira.
The name hit me like a physical blow. I'd grown up thinking I was the younger sister of a girl who had just "gone away" and come back. I didn't know there was another one. I didn't know my sister—the girl who used to tuck me in and call me "sweetpea"—had watched her best friend bleed out in a basement while our own mother counted the money.
Sold.
The word felt like acid.A mother is one who loves her child protet her,care for her, love —but Jeana Fernandes put a price tag on my sister. I sat on the top step, my knees pulled to my chest, shaking so hard I thought my bones might snap. I thought about Mira, the sister I never got to know, bleeding out in some dark basement. Because of that women.
Every memory of Sissy 's smiles, every "sweetpea" she whispered to me, now felt heavy with the weight of the hell she'd endured to come back to me.
I didn't even realize I was crying until the carpet beneath my knees felt damp. My chest felt like it was being crushed by a hydraulic press. Jay... my beautiful, strong Ate... she wasn't just "away." Shewas in hell. And she'd come back and smiled at me every single day as if her soul wasn't covered in scars.
"Mia?"
I flinched, spinning around. Felix was standing in the shadows of the hallway.
"I... I didn't know," I choked out, my voice hitching. "She never let me feel a single bit of pain. She made my life perfect. She bought me toys, she took me to school, she protected me from everything... and all the while, she was carrying that?"
Felix didn't say a word. He just stepped forward and sat on the floor beside me, offering a steady presence that I desperately needed.
He handed me a clean handkerchief, his expression unreadable but his eyes burning with a dark intensity.
"She did it so you wouldn't have to, Mia," Felix said, his voice a low, soothing anchor.
"But it's not fair!" I sobbed, leaning my head against his shoulder. The "slow burn" of his presence was the only thing stopping me from shattering. "She lost ten years. She lost Mira Ate. She lost herself . I didn't know my Ate was carrying a graveyard inside her."
I wiped my face with my sleeve, my sorrow suddenly sharpening into a cold, jagged edge. I looked down at the foyer where the ghost of Jeana Fernandes still lingered.
"That woman is dead to me," I whispered, my voice vibrating with a hatred I didn't know a girl my age could feel. "She thinks she sold a daughter, but she just created a ghost that's going to haunt her until her last breath. I swear on MiraAte memory and on Jay Sis scars—if Jeana ever tries to crawl back into this light, I will be the one to slam the door. I'm not a little kid anymore. I am Jay's sister, and I will help her burn every bridge that mother ever built."
Felix wrapped an arm around my shaking shoulders, pulling me closer. "Then we make sure it wasn't for nothing," he whispered, his voice turning into cold steel. "I swear to you, Mia, We will spend every breath making sure Jay never has to look over her shoulder again. If Jeana tries to crawl back, she'll have to go through all of us first. "
I leaned into him, my tears finally slowing but the ache in my heart remaining. Jay had protected me for years. Now, it was time for us to protect her.
--------------------------------
A/n
Guys I hope this chapter was worth your waiting.
Let's hit the target this time! 40+ comment 🎯
If we do, the next chapter will show the first strike of that 48-hour countdown. Trust me, Jeana is about to find out exactly how small the world is when you're being hunted by kings.
What was your favorite part? The brothers at the pool or Gemma finally choosing a side?Or Mia and Felix growing closeness.
Let me know! ❤️